Creative Resistance

What is creative resistance? Creative resistance is the practice of resisting oppressive forces through creative means. The forces we are referencing here are the ones in the world that spread and maintain things like inequality, violence, poverty, sexism, etc. These forces include capitalism, colonialism, systemic racism, materialism, and queerphobia, among many others. Some of the traditional means for resisting these forces have through the use of techniques such as protests and strikes. These methods have proven to be effective throughout herstory in improving the conditions for oppressed groups worldwide, but require a level of widespread popular organization that has been intentionally dispersed for several generations.

At the Open House, we spend a lot of time thinking of ways that we can directly and indirectly resist these forces in our daily lives, both in work and in society, while we build a build a larger movement that can have a more widespread influence for justice. We challenge ourselves to consider alternate ways of life that directly remove the power that these forces hold over us. We live together to save money on rent, reducing the strain of modern economic reality. We invest in long-term friendships to build strong support networks for one another. We share our skills and resources freely to break down individualistic thought pattern and increase collaborative power. We make art that highlights the experiences of groups like people of color and queer folks who have been denied the spotlight for far too long. We bike, bus, and carpool to minimize our reliance on destructive transportation methods. We study herstory, learning stories that have been untold in order to better inform our strategy for widespread change for justice.